#10,546 in History books
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Reddit mentions of Not by the Sword: How a Cantor and His Family Transformed a Klansman
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Reddit mentions: 1
We found 1 Reddit mentions of Not by the Sword: How a Cantor and His Family Transformed a Klansman. Here are the top ones.
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- Used Book in Good Condition
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Specs:
| Height | 9 Inches |
| Length | 6 Inches |
| Number of items | 1 |
| Weight | 1.3 Pounds |
| Width | 0.85 Inches |
You might be interested in the book Not by the Sword, which is the story of how a Rabbi and his family befriended a KKK diehard who had, up until then, lived a life dedicated towards spreading hatred.
It's a worthy read for a variety of reasons, but I think its most salient point is that changing the world for the better starts on a personal level, and grows from there. Trying to skip ahead to the change part, without appreciating what you can do as an individual, results in the burnout that you aptly describe in your post.
Things change both more slowly and more rapidly than you think. Some aspect of society that appears to be an immutable evil for decades can evaporate seemingly overnight, once a critical mass behind the scenes has grown.
We can't all be the trigger that starts the ultimate change, but we can do our part to build the base that allows it to happen.
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[edit] to more directly answer your question, a large part of growing up is realizing you don't know everything, and that what you 'feel' is right could easily be wrong, even though your intent is good.
Teens/early 20's folks lecturing about how they perceive society should be is nothing new. And sometimes (and only sometimes) the ideas are good, and they spread as that generation matures. But far more often, it is akin to being lectured by a virgin on how to sex- the adolescent possesses a near-adult brain, but lacks the experience to understand the context of why the world is the way it is, so they are blind to the critical flaws in their reasoning.
You are at the age where you're starting to see the flaws of your original approach, so you despair, and swing towards cynicism.
This is a normal reaction.
As time passes, you will likely find your cynicism moderated by the same effect, as you gain enough life experience to see when things actually do change for the better, too. And you'll start to understand that while you may not have the power you had aspired to in your youth, you are far from powerless.